Other departments: Conservation and Scientific
Research, Photography and Imaging

Description:

Tell es Sa'idiyeh, identified as the biblical city of Zarethan,
lies at the heart of the central Jordan Valley. The huge, double
occupation mound occupies a key strategic position, commanding the
crossroads of two major trade routes, and dominating some of the
richest and most fertile agricultural land east of the River
Jordan.

Excavations undertaken since 1985, by a British Museum
expedition under the direction of Jonathan N. Tubb, have revealed
the great antiquity of the site's occupational history, with
settlement phases extending from the Early Islamic period of the
seventh century AD, as far back at least as the Early Bronze Age of
the third millennium BC. Excavations have shown that by about 2900
BC, Tell es-Sa'idiyeh was a large and prosperous city, with well
constructed
architecture and evidence for highly developed municipal planning.
The most significant finding in this Early Bronze Age phase has
been of a large palace complex on the lower tell, with areas set
aside for olive oil production and storage, wine-making and textile
preparation. All three of these activities were conducted on an
industrial scale, clearly designed for international commerce. The
pottery and other artefacts recovered from this early city display
a level of refinement and sophistication unparalleled elsewhere in
the Levant.

Equally remarkable discoveries relate to the city of the twelfth
century BC, where excavations have uncovered evidence to suggest
that Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, like Beth Shan or Gaza on the other side of
the Jordan River, was a major centre for the Egyptian control of
Canaan during the final years of its New Kingdom empire.
Substantial architecture, including an elaborate water system and
Egyptian-style public buildings have been found on the upper mound,
and the same strong Egyptian component is also found in the
contemporary cemetery which was cut into the long-abandoned and
eroded ruins of the Early Bronze Age city on the lower mound. The
expedition has excavated, to date, some 450 graves, many of which
show unusual Egyptian features, both in terms of the grave-goods
and burial customs.

Objectives:

The principal objective of the Tell es-Sa’idiyeh excavation
project has been to study in detail a large and strategically
important site in one of the most fertile regions of the Levant.
Through meticulously conducted and comprehensively recorded
excavation, it will be possible to build up a complete story of the
site’s fortunes through time – from its first settlement as a
small un-walled village in the fifth millennium BC to its final
abandonment in the seventh century AD.

By analysis of the almost-continuous sequence of occupation
phases between these two dates, it will be possible to understand
how the site has responded over time to the numerous social,
economic, political, climatic and environmental changes that have
affected the Levant throughout its history.

Another objective is to understand Tell es-Sa’idiyeh in its
environmental setting. This will be achieved by careful study of
the plant and animal remains from each occupation phase. By
comparing these with the contemporary collections, it is hoped to
create a picture of how the landscape has changed through time, and
the degree to which it has been exploited and modified by human
presence.